Making A New Theme

ATTN: This information refers to AWBS version 2.8.0 and newer.

First, select an existing theme that is the closest look to what your end result will be, i.e. color scheme of content, etc.

Upload that theme if you don't already have it.

Note: It is recommended to rename your theme to avoid any possible loss of customization if any changes are made to that theme.

Header Area

Edit the top.php template file with your code/images as desired to create your header look. If you won't use language selection or Dynamic Converter, you can replace that entire table with your code.

Footer Area

Edit the bottom.php template file with your code/images as desired to create your custom footer look. Be sure to leave any javascript lines and php code near the bottom of the file to retain all system fucntionality.

Site Menu

• To edit the menu edit;

templates/common_files/group1menu.php

or if you are using portal mode

templates/common_files/group1cpmenu.php

INFO
The group1 refers to the user group, if you add user groups you can give them their own custom menu by creating new menu files.
Example: 
You add a new user group and it will be group 2
Create a new menu file named group2menu.php
When the group 2 users log in, their menu will change to the group2menu.php file instead of the default group1menu.php file.

• To edit the text on the menu links, edit the includes/language/english/global.php file

• The stylesheet used for the menus is:

templates/[your_theme_directory]/css/menu.css Note: this stylesheet is used for both the site menu and the member area menu

Stylesheet

Edit the stylesheet to obtain your desired look for the content area of the site. The stylesheet can be found at: templates/[your_theme_directory]/css/style.css

Member area menu

The menu used in the member area is; templates/common_files/usermenu.php Edit that file to add/edit/remove links

Edit the templates/[your_theme_directory]/css/menu.css file to change colors/style

Edit the includes/language/english/global.php file to change text on the menu.

Customizing other site pages

All other templates are located in the templates/common_files directory. If you wish to customize the layout of a page, it is recommended to copy(not move!) that file from the common_files directory to your theme directory and edit it there.

AWBS will look for the files first in your theme directory, then go to common_files to find the page it needs. Your theme directory will override any common_files templates.

Upgrading Hint:
When upgrading your AWBS site upload all new template files (if any) and then use Beyond Compare
to compare if you have customized any of the new template files. Compare the new file in the
common_files directory to your custom one in your theme directory to add in new changes to your custom file.